edited by Jonathan Doyle

Mafioso (The Criterion Collection, 3.18.2008) Nino Badalamenti is a supervisor in a car manufacturing plant who hasn't taken a vacation in over two years. On his way out the door to visit his beloved childhood hometown of Sicily -- with his blonde wife and daughters -- Nino is handed a package by his boss and asked to deliver it to a powerful and influential Sicilian gangster named Don Vincenzo. Once in Sicily, Nino has a hoot seeing friends and family, but his wife has trouble fitting in and is unfairly dismissed as a snob by Nino's family. Even more worrisome, Nino finds himself entangled in an intricate web of secret mafioso dealings and is eventually sent on an unexpectedly... elaborate errand. (continued)

Upcoming

July 2

Hancock

July 3

The Whackness

July 4

Diminished Capacity

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson

Holding Trevor

Kabluey

We are Together

July 9

Full Battle Rattle

July 11

A Man Named Pearl

August

Eight Miles High

Garden Party

Harold

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Meet Dave

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

The Stone Angel

July 18

A Very British Gangster

Before I Forget

The Dark Knight

The Doorman

Felon

Lou Reed's Berlin

Transsiberian

July 22

Two Tickets to Paradise

July 23

Boy A

Not selling cars

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To judge by his lean appearance, Robert De Niro was several years younger when he filmed this promo spot on behalf of the Tribeca Film Festival. It's for some kind of profile of the festival that was destined to appear "Tuesday on Fox," as De Niro says. The funny...no, hilarious part comes when the off-camera director asks him to sell it "with a little more energy" and De Niro goes, "I'm sorry but that was energetic....you don't know what you're talking about...sorry...I'm not selling cars, okay?" (Posted recently or six months ago -- don't know the story -- on GorillaMask.net.)

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 30, 2007 at 05:39 PM

comment #1

Mgmax says ...

It gave me the heebies that the offscreen voice asking him to do that sounded so much like myself... I've been in that position with celebs doing promos, no more miserable level of personal feeling-like-a-dorkdom is known to man.

The classic of the genre is this one:

http://www.harlanhogan.com/orson_outakes.shtml

Posted by Mgmax at July 30, 2007 06:07 PM

comment #2

JD says ...

Even movie directors are scared to give directions to De Niro, but this guy? You have to be deeply misguided to utter result-oriented nonsense like "more energetic" in the same room as Robert De Niro... but directly at him? Crazy.

Posted by JD at July 30, 2007 06:43 PM

comment #3

Wrecktum says ...

Yeah, but the funny thing is that he was right...DeNiro really needed to ratchet up the enthusiasm a smidge.

Posted by Wrecktum at July 30, 2007 06:55 PM

comment #4

Vince says ...

Try about 14 years younger. This looks like a promo clip for the TV series "Tribeca," which DeNiro executive produced and which ran on Fox during the '93 season.

Posted by Vince at July 30, 2007 07:54 PM

comment #5

Geoff says ...

Kind of random, but Harrison Ford bumbling his way through this gives me a chuckle. At least De Niro seemingly gets in and out in no time...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nubw-MjUffA

Posted by Geoff at July 30, 2007 08:30 PM

comment #6

Mr. Muckle says ...

Orson Welles. Brilliant. I feel humiliated just listetning to it.

Posted by Mr. Muckle at July 30, 2007 08:40 PM

comment #7

Mgmax says ...

DeNiro just seems to be a low-enthusiasm guy in real life. Read the intro he wrote for one of the Tribeca Grill cookbooks-- he sounds like he's on the witness stand attempting to deny the guy ever worked there, let alone was at all responsible for the restaurant's success.

Posted by Mgmax at July 30, 2007 08:46 PM

comment #8

Ogami Itto says ...

Hearing Orson Welles browbeat those poor fools was pretty funny (especially when Welles offers to go down on the guy if he can get a jury to agree on the proper use of "is"), but Harrison Ford shows that movie stars shouldn't open their mouths unless someone has written words for them to say.

Posted by Ogami Itto at July 31, 2007 12:57 AM

comment #9

Balerion says ...

The DeNiro and Welles clips reminds me of a similar recording of William Shatner browbeating a producer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui8R0VpBZJ0

Posted by Balerion at July 31, 2007 01:54 AM

comment #10

giantman says ...

Early in my career I asked Gregory Peck for another take on a voice-over track that he was doing for me. He paused, looked me in the eye and said, "Son, it was perfect the first time." Since then I've learned that it simply isn't worth it. Play to their ego, tell them what a great job they did and say thanks.

Posted by giantman at July 31, 2007 06:08 AM

comment #11

Mgmax says ...

The magic words to get a second take are "Wow, that was great, I can't imagine how we'd do that any better, let's just get a second one as a safety in case the machine does something funny..."

Posted by Mgmax at July 31, 2007 06:14 AM

comment #12